It seems that this particular politician, Diane Bellamy-Small, was "paced" at 50 MPH in a 35 zone, and when stopped, made what I would call a veiled threat to cause the police officer "problems". The officer, who has been with the Greensboro, NC PD for around 13 months, apparently had the good sense to notify his superior, who in turn ran it up the chain of command.

Be sure to read the fast-lane politician's email response to questions from the Greensboro News & Record. For reasons that will be obvious, it's humorous.

We can only hope that the President isn't demonstrating a lesson learned from Vietnam, and making it easier for those who have helped us in Iraq to get out of harm's way before the Democrats force the military to pull out.

I'm not sure what the solution to the problem is, but we'd better find one soon, before We The People decide to try a different system--or before the whole corrupt mess caves in and we''re forced to find one.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

But I've honestly not been in the mood for a few days. Busy at work, tired, blah, blah.

I've been passing what spare time I've had reading to relax. Of course, I've been reading survival-oriented and political things, which is a bit self-defeating. No matter, because I've found a number of interesting things to share.

The first comes from Slate Magazine. Now I find it a bit odd that something like this could come from that source, but this is well worth reading--"How to Survive a Disaster" by David Shenk. Before dismissing this series of articles, you need to read just the first one. Among other topics, it addresses one of the ones that the prepared have a very difficult time communicating to the unprepared--why we do this, and how to describe it in a way that won't immediately put people off.

There are some interesting links in the series as well. In no particular order...

The second is the site for the RadDetect. Visitors to this blog from Timebomb 2000 are familiar with the NukeAlert, another key chain radiation detector. This one may be better. I'm in the process of investigating the specs from both, and at some point, I'm going to be making a purchase.

Speaking of detectors, how about an earthquake detector? The Quake Alarm may be able to give you a few seconds head start in case of an earthquake. For $23 plus shipping, I can't see much reason not to have one.

From Timebomb 2000, we have Coinflation.com. Coinflation give you the current "melt value" of various precious metal-containing coins from around the world. Beats the little spreadsheet I've been using.

Also from Timebomb, we have two sites. One is the site of James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency. The second is his blog, Clusterfuck Nation. Yeah, the name's a little rough, but if you have any military background, you know the term, and you know why it applies.

Adams, a Greensboro Democrat, said she was "sad when anybody meets with that kind of hardship ..."

and

Rep. Pricey Harrison... said he should be remembered as a champion of education funding and for helping steer the state through tough economic times.

and

Rep. Earl Jones said Black shouldn't be remembered for his legal troubles.

"Other than that blemish, his track record is impeccable," said Jones, who like Harrison is a Greensboro Democrat.

Now how can this be? How could this "a good man like Jim Black could have this happen to him,"?

It couldn't be because the NC Legislature has been practicing dirty politics for more years than I've been around, could it? What about career politicians who think they're above the law (and of course, above us little folks who pay taxes)? Perhaps it's the fact that Democrats have controlled the NC Legislature forever, and they think they can do whatever they want and get away with it? And surely it couldn't have anything to do with unchecked power being a corrupting influence?